You Puzzle Me
by Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare
Summary: random puzzleshipping onshots and drabbles and possibly poems or songfics. because the pairing is boss and deserves so much more love. please read! T for general ratings of anything i may write.
1. Shattered Soul

**Puzzleshipping oneshots/drabbles for when I'm bored, in the mood, or stressed out from (or tired of writing) my other fanfics. Oh the fun I will have writing these. XD**

**This fist one has a picture that I drew, which started the whole oneshot (take out spaces): poetic-kitsune .deviantart . com /art/ Shattered-Soul-81033555**

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It seemed like there were always dark forces at work, trying to tear the two apart. 'He's too powerful with that Millennium Puzzle,' they'd say. 'We need to stop him once and for all,' they'd threaten. 'Yuugi and that damn Pharaoh are always getting in the way!' they'd curse. It was like a constant reprieve for the bad guys to do what they want.

But aside from this, let's move over to our heroes, our main characters, our dear Yugi Motou and his spirit companion, Atemu. It was sad, because it started off a normal day for these two… or, rather, for Yuugi. He got up, went to school, chatted with his friends, did school work, learned a thing or two… and then set for home. But it was on that walk home that things changed for the worse.

'_Aibou,'_ Atemu called. _'Something doesn't feel right.'_

"What do you mean?" Yuugi mutters aloud, shrugging the backpack he wore higher onto his shoulder.

'_I _mean_,'_ he replies, _'I'm getting a weird feeling. Look around, will you? No one's following you or anything, right?'_

Obediently, Yuugi glanced about him. "No, not really. Not that I can see, anyway."

'_Are you sure?'_

"As sure as I can be, Spirit. Why?"

'_I just… I just don't feel like we should linger in this area. Can you hurry home, please?'_

"If you say so," the teen shrugs, picking up his pace. He nearly made it, too. The only inkling Yuugi had of what was happening was Atemu yelling in his mind to run, run, run.

It was no use; Yuugi got caught. And, to his dismay, robbed. The golden item that normally hung around his neck was missing by the time he regained consciousness.

"Don't worry, we'll help you get Yami back," his friends reassured.

Yuugi shook his head, his spiky blonde bangs tickling his neck and jaw. "We don't even know where he is, or who took him… I'll never have my Hitori back… he's gone…"

"Don't say things like that!" Jou snapped. "You have to believe in us and him, Yuugi. We'll get him back, you'll see."

Oddly enough, as if it were a gift from the gods, a random note was delivered to his grandfather's game shop. Yuugi was more than happy, because this meant Atemu could return to him, safe and sound. All that mattered was Atemu…

But the note demanded more than he could give. All his cards, all the rarities he possessed, and even the deed to something he didn't know his grandfather owned. But how can he hand all of these things over for the Millennium Puzzle? Was it worth it?

So, he chose to retrieve Atemu in secret. No one would know that he was gone, and no one would bother to follow. Everyone could stay safe and sound behind. With these thoughts in mind, Yuugi went to the meeting place for the trade-off.

"Did you bring what I had asked?"

Yuugi's grip on his backpack tightened at the sound of the voice. In truth, the backpack was empty. It contained some random worthless items to hold the proper weight, but none of the cards nor the deed was in it's contents. He was cheating, he knew, but Yuugi was not so imprudent to actually go through with the trade. Atemu was important to him, but so was the trust of his grandfather and friends. Because what would they think of him is he selfishly stole the deed and helplessly handed over all his cards, his grandfather's, and even some of theirs?

"Yes, I brought it. All of it," he lies, a burning sensation behind his amethyst orbs. Yet he refused to cry.

"Hand over the bag and you can have your shiny trinket back," the cloaked figure says.

Biting his lip, the young duelist was unsure what to do. If he slid the backpack over to the man, he's surely look inside and see that Yuugi was playing him. But if he didn't, would he ever get his Pharaoh returned to him?

So, reluctantly, he shrugged his backpack to the hard ground and kicked it over to the strange man. Although as soon as it was within his reach, the man tossed off his hood and began laughing. In the darkness Yuugi could hardly see who it is, but it looked like the twisted Yami no Malik. He begins laughing manically. "Fool! You just handed over your only chances to duel in this world again! Did you really think I'd just give you the Puzzle back without a hitch? All of your enemies and I have sought to do you in, Yuugi Motou, and finally we have. Prepare to have your other half, Yami no Yuugi, sent into the Shadow Realm!"

Briefly, Atemu appeared as the ghost Yuugi knew all too well, a transparent body of the soul he's come to love.

"Atemu!" Yuugi cried, watching as Malik raised his arm, Millennium Rod in hand, to lift the pyramid into the air above their heads. It began to spin rapidly like a tornado sent spiraling out of control. Lightning sparked, and Atemu started being sucked into the puzzle.

Yuugi ran for Atemu, his red-purple eye blinking in place of the Eye of Ra. Shining tears too thin to see fell out of the puzzle's center, Atemu now trapped inside.

_How could this happen?_ Yugi thought as the puzzle, dangling by the chain he put on it, seemed to spin around and around just out of his reach. Why did he have to be so short? _Come on, legs, move faster! Stretch further! Jump higher!_ he urged.

But it was no use.

Right as he was nearing the golden pyramid, it shattered, chain and all. Salty tears streamed down the teen's face as he reached up a hand to grab the middle piece that still held his dear aibou's eye.

The explosive inner light of Atemu's soul blinded him, but still he reached, hoping to grasp at least one shred of the puzzle before it was lost forever...

Malik continued to laugh, though he walked off into the distance, Yuugi's backpack over his shoulder. But the young duelist didn't care; as he thin fingers wrapped around the center piece and the rest scattered about, he knew this was not the end. He'll just have to rebuild it and pray that Atemu was still attached to the golden object.

_Hold on, Mou Hitori no Boku; I will save you. Because without you, my heart is lost. _


	2. It Was Enough

Feather light. Chilling. Like a puff of air from an ice cube, or a popsicle on your lips.

That's what it felt like the first few times, when Atemu was nothing but a soul only Yuugi could see. Someone he didn't know had a name, someone he merely referred to as 'Yami no Yuugi', his other self.

But were they so similar? It didn't feel like it. And was this really a kiss? It didn't feel like it.

Still, Yuugi enjoyed those feather-light, cool lips that grazed his cheek and pecked at his forehead and closed his eyes shut at night. He liked them best when Atemu would place when on his own lips, warm life meeting with airy afterlife.

Once or twice Yuugi would try to open his mouth to let Atemu inside, to see if spirits had tongues. But apparently they didn't, because all he felt was less cool air enter his mouth, as if his aibou were breathing.

"Yami…?" he asked once, again before he knew the spirit's true name, and before he himself knew due to lack of memories.

"Yes?" Atemu replied, coming to sit on the edge of his bed and stare at the slightly younger boy.

His voice had come soft and unsure, even somewhat hesitant. "Why do you kiss me sometimes?" Yuugi pauses, his lower lip being pulled in between his teeth. "Don't get me wrong; I like it. I just want to know why."

The Pharaoh took this into account. His crimson-tinted irises left Yuugi's face while he thought. Slowly, he admitted, "There is no definite reason why. It is like asking the sun why it sets, or asking the moon why it changes phases; there is no real answer, it simply_ is_."

"Oh," Yuugi said to himself. He had been hoping it was because Atemu loved him. "Well," the boy began. "I kiss you back for a reason. Want to know what it is?"

The spirit nodded.

"It's because I love you, and you make me happy. And because I want to savor whatever time I have with you, even if you don't have any of your memories and may get them back one day only to leave me in the process." It was a sad thought, but the truth. This is what Yuugi felt.

Shock stiffened Atemu's features for a moment. Then his face fell into a warm, kind-eyed smile without teeth. A loving gaze. "I will never leave you, Yuugi. When you are happy, I am happy, and if me staying will do that then I will. I doubt getting my memory back will change anything between us."

And that's when he laid his hand on Yuugi's cheek, the pressure hardly even there, like condensed cold air. Yuugi closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, waiting. Atemu didn't make him wait long; soon he was giving the teen another chaste kiss on his soft, palely pink lips.

Feather light and chilling. It was the only type of kiss Yuugi knew at first. But it was enough.


	3. This Doesn't Feel Right

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

I sit up in the hospital bed, looking around the room. It was plain and simple, nearly all whites or off-whites. I could see Anzu and Jou and Honda snoozing in chairs near my bed. They were probably tuckered out from staying up all night for me.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

I glance around, nearly expecting someone else to be close by. I can't put my finger on whom, but someone's missing. Not like Kaiba or his brother, no, not someone like them. I don't know where Grandpa is, but I know he's not the one missing. So who is?

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

"Minna," I call out to my friends. Jonouchi being the first to snort into full awareness.

"Eh? Nani?" Slowly his eyes fall on me, and I smile weakly. "Yuugi! Guys, guys, Yuugi's up!"

"Hmm?" Anzu hums as she stretches. Her blue eyes blink once or twice at me before they pool with tears and she hops out of her chair to come hug me.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

"Yuugi! Oh, Yuugi, you had us so scared! We thought your situation couldn't be helped! The doctor said you might not make it…" she cries, and I wince as her breasts press up against my broken ribs.

_**This doesn't feel right at all.**_

"How're you feeling, Yuugi? Need anything?" Honda asks gently, Jou next to him with a similar look on concern on his face.

"No, I'm fine," I tell them. Why did it feel like I wasn't fine, though? Why did it feel like part of me is missing? My heart aches…

"Afternoon, Motou-san," says a doctor as he walks into the room. He held a clipboard in his hands and reading glasses upon his broken nose. At least, it looked broken; it was all bumpy at the top.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

"I'm afraid there might be some memory loss after a stunt like that. You shouldn't have been so reckless, young man! All these people care greatly about you," the doctor continues.

I cock my head. "What did I do?" I honestly couldn't remember. How did I get hurt like this, anyway? My blonde bangs were gone from my eyes, pulled up behind some bandage on my forehead; I could feel it. And my arm was hard to move in it's cast. Two of the toes on my right foot were stinging, too. I must've broken those as well. But what did I do to get into this shape?

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

"You mean you don't remember? You fell out of the ski lift on our class field trip, that's what you did!" Anzu snaps, but her tone sounded more in shock than in anger.

The doctor nods in agreement. "Exactly. Jonouchi-san told me you looked dazed. Were you feeling lightheaded before the accident? You weren't on drugs or alcohol at the time, were you?"

"Yuugi's not into that stuff," Honda says in my defense. "And we were with him the whole time. Just…"

"As the ski lift went up the mountain, his eyes glazed over and he wandered to the window. He didn't say a word," Anzu nearly whispers. It took all I had to hear her, and she's right beside me.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

"Gomen," I mutter. I'm not sure what I'm sorry for because I don't remember anything, but it's best to be sorry. It makes everyone feel better.

The doctor jots this down and begins out the door. "Well, that's all I'll ask for now." And he leaves.

Anzu spins to stare at me. "Alright, Mister, you have a lot of explaining to do! What was that, huh? Where you trying to kill yourself?!" She's crying again. "We're friends, Yuugi! If there's ever anything you need to talk about or…" She shakes her head, her short brown hair swishing. It was pretty to look at.

'But something else is much prettier to look at', a voice tells me. 'Something red…'

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

"Yeah," Jonouchi grunts with a cross of his arms. "If you ever need us, we're here. don't go suicidal, got it? You're my closest friend since… well, forever! I don't want to lose you! You could've froze to death or something…"

Honda seems too choked up to say anything, so he merely nods his head, his eyes going glassy. Was he going to cry, too?

_**This doesn't feel right at all.**_

"Look… I wasn't trying to kill myself! I'm not like that. I… I don't remember why I acted that way. I don't even remember the fall. Or our class trip. Or what day it was! The last thing I remember is you two –" I point accusingly at Jou and Honda, "– teasing me and a certain blonde throwing a piece of my puzzle into the water!"

They all blink and stare at me.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

"Yuugi… that was over two years ago…" Anzu says slowly, her face twisted into confusion.

"You mean… you don't remember anything after that? Nothing about Kaiba or the Pharaoh or –" Jou tries, but I cut him off.

"The Pharaoh? Who's the Pharaoh? Pharaohs only exist in ancient Egypt." I point out.

Their jaws almost hit the floor.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

Soon, the three of them are coughing and looking away and muttering things I can't comprehend. Then, they decide to leave, saying I need more rest and that my brain's just a bit scrambled and needs to be righted again. And then I'm alone in my cot.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

Nothing felt right, actually. Finally I listen to that echo in my head, and concentrate on the word 'pharaoh'. And the color red. But no, not red… red-purple. Eyes? Somehow that seemed to fit. But why?

My heart ached again, and I clutched it through my hospital gown.

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

_Two years ago? What happened after that point that my brain couldn't let me remember?_

I get a shiver up my spine, and subconsciously touch my lips with my fingers of the arm without a cast. _A kiss, perhaps? But from who?_

'Mou Hitori no Boku.'A teeny spark told me.

My other self? Who is my other self?

_**This doesn't feel right at all. **_

_I'm missing someone. I lost part of myself. I feel all wrong. Tell me what's going on. I beg of you. Why did I fall out of the ski lift? Who had been calling out to me to distract me? It was an accident, I know… but what caused it? Who… who is my other self?_

'Yami no Yuugi.'The same spark said. The same spark from when Anzu was here, and it mentioned the color red…

_Dark Yuugi? Who's the darker me? Give me a name! Who can't I remember? Who…_

_**This doesn't feel right. **_

'_Why, Yuugi? Why have you forgotten me?' _

"I didn't mean to!" I shout to the open air. "Please, help me know who you are!"

'_Pharaoh.'_

"The Pharaoh? You're the Pharaoh?"

'_Atemu.'_

"You're Atemu? Or the Pharaoh? Which is it?!"

'_Yuugi… I cant return to you unless you know me. Remember me, please. The Pharaoh Atemu of Egypt… remember me, aibou.' _

"Atemu…" I whisper, closing my eyes. I see a face, much like my own, but with sharper eyes and a more chiseled chin, and eyes that are much more crimson than mine. Blonde bangs and black hair with red ends and blonde streaks.

_Mai ichi aibou, mai ichi koi. _My only partner, my only love.

_Atemu. _

"I remember you!"

_**This feels…**_

A spirit appears before me, a smile on his lips. And I know who it is. And I suddenly remember everything. _Everything._ All the duels and hardships and joyous times. I remember staring out at the snowy landscape and the mountains, and instead of seeing only white I saw only sand as Atemu showed me Egypt in the form of a reflection in the window of the ski left. I remember wanting to reach out and touch it, but I bumped against the handle of the door and fell out… How could I have forgotten? How?

He crawls up onto the bed and presses his forehead to mine, and silently I wonder where the Millennium Puzzle is, and how he can be here without it. But we don't need it, do we? We're already connected.

I begin to cry, hot but not painfully. Like a summer rain: warm and cleaning, blissful. It's a good cry.

Atemu shushes me. "All is well now, aibou." And a ghostly hand caresses my wounds, along with a soothing pair of ghostly lips to my own.

_**This feels… right. **_


	4. All I Want

The rustling of sheets. Fingers get a grip. A puff of hot air from the mouth. A fire, burning, but tickling and teasing.

"Nhn," spoken so soft, "Please…"

A lick, causing a muffled moan. A bitten-back word of pleasure, a name stuck behind two sealed lips.

"Ah… again…"

A trace and a flick, warm and tingling. _So close, so close…_ Higher, lower, and then all around. _Getting closer…_ Another moan, but less suppressed. This time, a name is heard.

"Yuugi…"

Spilling forth, flowing out, only to trail down. A taste – bitter – but tolerable.

A knowing smirk. "Is that all you needed, Atemu?"

"It is all I want," replies a rich, breathless voice.

Moving, shifting, bed springs creaking. A body comes closer, so small, so fragile. But not innocent. _No._ He's of age. He knows what to do. And he did it wonderfully.

"Thank you…"

The younger one snuggles closer, hand reaching down to wipe away the accident. "Anytime. I'm here for you. And I'll always want to please you, oh pharaoh," he teases. He glances up, crimson-violet eyes regaining their spark after being so clouded from lust.

Slow movement, gentle and loving. A whisper in an ear. "Tomorrow night is your turn."

Another smirk, but less knowing and more giddy. "Okay."


	5. No Longer Alone at Night

It was in those lonely spells in the wee hours of the morning that Yuugi felt the most safe. He knew nothing could harm him while he lay in his bed, snuggled deep under the covers and surrounded by his own body heat.

It was in these lonely hours when he woke from nightmares of ancient things he'd rather not speak about that he felt the most loved. Normal people would ache for a touch of some kind, but Yuugi already knew that he had someone. He didn't notice these long hours, because it was in these moments that _he_ appeared.

It was when the night was at it's darkest and the moon at it's brightest that _he_ would pop out of the puzzle, seemingly out of Yuugi's own body, to comfort the smaller boy.

"I'm here for you, Yuugi," that rich, velvety voice would whisper to him. The voice of _him_, the only person Yuugi's truly cared about: a former pharaoh of Egypt, a fearsome card player, _Yami no Yuugi,_ his other self, none other than Atemu.

He would be frightened and shy without _him_ there. Yuugi knew how greatly Atemu impacted his life, and he never wanted to know what it would be like without _him_. It was painful to think about.

As dependent as he was on his other self's affection and dedication, Yuugi wasn't a fool. He knew that it was a dangerous sort of love, not to mention a damn near impossible one. He knew that someday, Atemu would have to leave him. He knew that, if something dark and twisted ever entered Atemu, he would be like Yami no Marik or Yami no Bakura: evil, demonic-like other selves that hurt who they're with. Yet Yuugi also knew that if it ever came to something like that, he could never leave his partner; it was similar to Ryou and Yami No Bakura: they had a twisted relationship, but they're together through and through. It's a sick way to be with someone, but Yuugi knew that that's how he'd be if his Hitori no Boku went dark.

It's funny what thoughts drifted into his mind late at night, the dawn merely a handful of hours in the distance.

"Are you going to be able to sleep, aibou?" Atemu asked gently, his ghostly hand touching Yuugi with the lightest of sensations.

Yuugi shivered delightfully. "Yeah, I think so," he replied with a small smile. He laid his head back down and closed his eyes, the weight of Atemu's presence lingering around him like a pair of arms rocking their lover to sleep.

The teenager sighed and drifted off…

He loved those spells just before morn; it was at those times that he could admit what he could never say, merely feel, during the day: "I love you."


	6. Missing

I start to cry. Bitterly, harshly, _painfully_. It's entirely my fault. My heart aches, knowing that he's gone. I scream out for him, "AIBOU! AIBOU!" but he doesn't answer. He can't answer me now.

Why? Why do the gods torment me so? Do they enjoy seeing me in such heartbreak? Or perhaps I'm a masochist, since it's my fault that he's gone…

I need to get him back. I _need_ him back; back in my arms, in my heart, in my soul. My very core weeps for his absence, pleading for him to return to me.

His friends – _my_ friends – try to say something, but I can't speak. Not much. I can only murmur small nothings to myself. The blow of Yuugi disappearing is hurting me more than anything has ever hurt me before, and in this moment, I can focus on nothing else but this stinging, raw _ache_.

How did it come to this? Everything seems like such a blur now… I can hardly remember anything. All my mind seems to process is that _Yuugi is missing_. My partner in more ways than one is _gone_. And that it hurts something fierce.

Wiping the last of my tears and sniffing the last of my short breaths, I stand tall once more, my face turning stony and determined.

I broke down, yes. But I will not give up. Yuugi never has, and I never have; why make a black mark on my record now?

Because I'm going to retrieve him… no matter what the cost.

And the reason? It goes without saying: my heart is nothing without him here, since he holds it in his hands.


End file.
